deepcreek

[Deleted]

I just received my o2 units I thought it would make me have more energy it hasn't yet guess its not been long enough husband said the same no difference.what should I expect?

[maryaz]

Hi deepcreek. Hopefully someone who explains things better will be by and can describe what o2 does.

I really don't know about having more energy just by getting o2. It is to help get enough o2 into our system to keep our saturation up.
IMHO, getting energy would be thru working out and excerising. You are new to this and I don't recommend just any exercise.

You need some guidance in that area too. Everyone is different. I marvel at people that get on o2 and really improves their SOB but not in my case when walking.

There is a lot to learn and it doesn't come quick. Hang in there.

[chrisw]

I hope I can help a little here. Lack of oxygen (low blood oxygen saturation levels) has very few noticeable symptoms. If you really study the symptoms then you might notice night vision falling off when oxygen sats drop to about 92% , and from there then you progressively loose mental ability - as one member of my local support group described it - a bit like getting drunk (but without the 'high'). When my sats get down to about 84% then I find it hard to walk steadily - I doubt if I could pass a police drunkenness test of walking a straight line!!!
It does not much help breathlessness and it not not suddenly make you into a superman. But a lot of this is because your muscles have become unfit. Provided that you use the oxygen to exercise for as long as you can every day (at your own speed until you can walk for 30 minutes) and then push to walk a little faster each outing for the same amount of time. Then the oxygen will allow you to do this. It takes time to work up like this but it really does pay off.

The shortness of breath that comes with COPD is another story and again oxygen does not help a huge amount. But what does help for this is learning "pursed lip breathing" and "belly breathing" also known as diaphragmatic breathing. See Phil's articles about this on the www.copdcanada.ca web site. With the right techniques and with oxygen you really can learn to live with a steady level of breathlessness (I am not talking panic SOB levels here) during exercise. And it gets better when you stop exercising
What does oxygen do? - Well, if you use it to build up your body with exercise, then it will help you to live a longer happier life!!!
I hope I haven't just confused you more!!
Chris

[Deleted]

my energy level drops real fast.go to sleep.Now i put on o2 before i doze off